


No Greater Love

by peggin



Category: As the World Turns
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-11
Updated: 2010-12-11
Packaged: 2017-10-20 11:07:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/212108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peggin/pseuds/peggin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Short, silly piece of fluff, about Luke and Reid and their mutual love for junk food.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Greater Love

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to [alicesprings](http://archiveofourown.org/users/alicesprings) and [rhiannonhero](http://archiveofourown.org/users/rhiannonhero) for the beta!

Reid couldn't remember a day that had stretched out as long as this one and it didn't look like it would end any time soon. The drive out to Bay City had taken a ridiculously long amount of time; traffic had been tied up because of a bad accident involving a Hyundai and an eighteen-wheeler. The truck had overturned, the Hyundai was a mangled wreck, and the police had only been letting a couple of cars through at a time. As a result, it took Reid nearly twice as long as it normally would to get to Bay City.

By the time he got there, he was half convinced his efforts would turn out to be in vain. If that son of a bitch doctor who had claimed Chris's heart for his own patient had already gotten his patient into surgery, it would be too late. It was one thing to bully someone into handing over a heart that was still sitting in a cooler, quite another to try to rip one out of another patient's chest.

It turned out that luck was on his side. Their surgeon had been caught in the same traffic as Reid, and Reid was relieved to discover that he'd gotten there first. He was less relieved when it became clear that the arrogant ass who was keeping Chris's heart was still being a stubborn prick about it. The hospital administrator, however, was a lot more reasonable. Once Reid had made it clear that Chris had priority on the transplant registry and that if he left Bay City without that heart they'd be facing a lawsuit as well as an investigation from the state licensing board, it only took a few minutes before he got to personally supervise as they loaded the cooler bearing the heart into a helicopter headed for Oakdale.

Reid took a few minutes to call Bob Hughes and John Dixon with the good news before getting in his car for the long drive home. This time there was no accident to deal with, but the drive had still taken over an hour. He breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled into the parking garage and headed up to his office.

Of course the day was far from over, and he couldn't truly relax until Chris's surgery was completed. He thought he might be able to distract himself by going over some patient files and had just sat down at his desk when Luke popped his head in the door, a huge smile plastered across his face.

"You did it!" Luke made his way across the room and put his hand on Reid's shoulder. "You said you were going to get that heart for Chris, and you really came through. Have I told you lately how amazing you are?"

Reid smiled, but he could tell the smile hadn't reached his eyes. Luke noticed it, too, and asked him what was wrong.

"There's just a lot that can go wrong in a heart transplant surgery." Reid sighed as he got up from his desk and started pacing the room. "There's nothing to be relieved about; not yet."

"I know," Luke replied. "But, you've done everything you could possibly do, Reid; more than anyone had any right to expect. There's nothing more you can do until they're done with the transplant. You need to try to give yourself a break. Do something to take your mind off of it for a while. Relax!"

Reid stopped in front of his desk and picked up a patient file, more to give his hands something to do than out of any real desire to look at it. "I don't think I'll be able to relax until John Dixon comes up here and tells me that everything went well."

"Is there anything I can do?" Luke asked. "Anything that might make you feel a little better?"

Reid hesitated only a second before saying the first thing that popped into his mind: "Find me some Mallomars."

"Mallomars?" Luke gave Reid a look that made him wonder if he'd grown a second head.

"Yeah, Mallomars. When I made my rounds this morning, one of my post-op patients was watching some movie. I heard Billy Crystal declare Mallomars the greatest cookies of all time – which is obviously the truth – and I've been craving them ever since." Reid could tell Luke was about to say something, so he stopped him before he could start. "I know, you can't get them at this time of year. They won't be out in the stores for at least another month. Forget I said anything. I think I'm just going to go down to the E.R. and see if they could use a hand for a couple of hours. I'm going to crawl out of my skin if I can't find something to distract me."

Luke gave him a sort of half smile. "That sounds like a good idea. You go find yourself a nice brain to cut into. I'll see you later." Then Luke gave him a kiss and patted his cheek before turning and walking out the door.

There were no head traumas waiting in the Emergency Room to keep his mind occupied, but there was a fifteen year old girl who had just arrived in need of an appendectomy. It was a procedure a first year intern could do, and one Reid could do in his sleep, but it was something to occupy his hands for a while, if not his mind.

A little over an hour later, the appendix safely removed and the patient on her way to Recovery, Reid headed back up to his office. He knew Chris wouldn't be out of surgery for at least a couple more hours, but he was hoping there might be a message waiting for him letting him know how things were progressing.

He didn't find any messages, but he found something even better: two boxes of Mallomars sitting on the middle of his desk, along with a Post-it note with a message in Luke's handwriting that simply said, "Enjoy!"

Reid barely had time to ask himself whether he should just open one of the boxes and have a cookie or if he should go looking for Luke first, let alone to decide between the two, before Luke walked through his office door.

"Where on Earth did you find these?" Reid asked, gesturing to the boxes on his desk.

"I've always hated that you can't buy Mallomars in the summer, so every March, before they disappear from the shelves, I buy up a dozen or so boxes and put them in the deep freeze at the farm," Luke said. "Those were the last two boxes I had left."

Reid walked across the room and reached for Luke's hand. "You gave me your last two boxes of Mallomars?"

Luke shrugged. "You seemed like you needed them more than I do."

"Wow," Reid shook his head as he looked at Luke, amazed that he'd ever had the good fortune to find this man. "You must have really meant it when you said that you love me."

Luke squeezed Reid's hand. "Of course I meant it."

Reid let go of Luke's hand and reached up to cup his cheek. "Have I told you yet that I love you?"

"Yes," Luke replied, a smile lighting up his whole face.

"Well, I don't think I could possibly love you more than I do at this moment."

Then Luke did this thing where he dipped his head bashfully and looked up at Reid through his eyelashes.

"Huh. What do you know? I was wrong," Reid said as he leaned in to brush his lips across Luke's.

 

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know anything about medicine, surgery, transplant registries, or state licensing boards, but I figure the stuff I invented can't be any further from the truth than the ridiculous B.S. they put on the show.
> 
> There are many people in this world who will tell you that [Mallomars](http://www.nabiscoworld.com/Brands/ProductInformation.aspx?BrandKey=mallomars&Site=1&Product=4400000674) are, in fact, the greatest cookie ever made, (the Billy Crystal quote is from _When Harry Met Sally_ ). Nabisco only sells them from October through March, and there are many, many people who stock up on them each year the way Luke does in this story.


End file.
